The present invention relates generally to video games and, more particularly, to interactive video games involving simulated real-life sporting events in which an official, referee or other individual is used to enforce the rules of play or to otherwise regulate the conduct of the game.
Interactive video games have been developed that allow individuals to control the actions of a player in a team sporting event such as American football, soccer, baseball, basketball, and hockey. These video games have progressed in sophistication to allow more than one individual to control different players in the same game, including by being networked together from different locations. Many of these games include an official, also known by various names such as a referee, linesman, judge, umpire, etc., who participates in the conduct of the game by enforcing the rules of play. The game is programmed so that the official automatically calls certain fouls or penalties if a player violates a game rule, but the official, unlike the game players, cannot be controlled by an individual. For example, in the Madden NFL® video game, the referee is programmed to call a pass interference penalty if a defensive back controlled by an individual tackles a receiver before the pass is touched by the receiver. As another example, in the FIFA® soccer video game, the official is programmed to automatically call an offsides penalty when an offensive player controlled by an individual passes the ball to another offensive player who is closer to the other team's goal than the last defender.
Developing the knowledge and skills needed to officiate a sporting event is often a difficult process that can require many years of practice and experience. Even after a person learns the entire set of rules of play for the particular sport, he or she must learn to visually identify rules violations during play and make split-second decisions to call a foul or assess a penalty. A person will normally begin officiating youth sporting events where the pace of play is slower and the skills needed to officiate can be more easily developed. As the person's officiating skills develop, he or she is able to progress to more competitive levels of play. For those persons desiring to officiate the higher levels of competition, many years of officiating lower level games may be required before the person develops the necessary officiating skills. The pace of development is dictated in large part by how many games the official is able to officiate, but in some sports the games are played only on certain days of the week and only during certain months of the year. As a result, the pace of an official's development may be slowed simply because of a lack of opportunity to officiate live games.
In addition, although players, coaches and spectators frequently provide vocal feedback to officials during and after a game, an objective evaluation of an official's performance is typically only available when other officials watch a replay of the game and provide instructional feedback. This type of objective evaluation is typically only provided at the higher levels of competition and can require a substantial time commitment on behalf of evaluating officials.
A need has arisen for methods of allowing a person to more quickly develop and improve his or her officiating skills for a particular sporting event without having to rely primarily on officiating live games and receiving feedback from other officials who review replays of those games.